Sisters, the thought of harvest has me hungry.  But only for a good harvest, like the pilgrim’s first harvest, as displayed in our early history lessons where we used our hands to trace the turkeys that adorned mom’s fridge.  

The Spirit is the aspect of the Godhead (the trinity) that brings the others into the relationship.  The Spirit is that person of God by which we experience all that God gives.  Sowing to the Spirit is participating in the community that experiences what God is giving, loving, saving, healing, and caring.  We live life in the Spirit openly and responsibly.  Paul says, “he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit inherit eternal life.”  Sowing to the Spirit opposes sowing to the flesh.  And the battle rages.   

We’ve all seen others along the path that sowed to the flesh, and nothing immediately happened.  Where are the consequences of this?  We expected a swift lightning bolt from the sky to take them out or at least scare a person half to death.  We watch them wander off the freedom path, ignoring all warnings and disappear from our sight.  While we make one mess-up and the world seemingly comes to an end.  Did we have this all wrong?  We must keep in mind, dear sisters, that these are seeds we are planting.  I guarantee we won’t all plant perfect seeds.  We are, in fact, human and prone to mess up (and free to receive grace).  The seeds will come up—-in time. 

Decisions are seeds.  Attitudes are seeds.  Thoughts are seeds.  All of it will come to harvest.  Paul clearly states, “Don’t be deceived. I know that mountain lion hiding behind the boulder-lie is telling you that nothing will come of that snotty little attitude; just pray and ask forgiveness.  Hello!!  God will not be mocked.  What you plant, you will reap.  It will not magically transform once it hits the dirt.  If you sow corn, you will harvest corn.”  

On the flip side, sisters, it’s still a matter of faith.  While we want no consequences for the wrong we sow, we want immediate results for the good we do.  We give a little extra in the offering and want to see a check in the mail.  We stop to buy groceries for the neighbor and want an immediate reward for the good we just did.  It doesn’t always work that way.  Planting to harvest is a long process.  

“When the time had fully come, God sent forth His son.”  Centuries passed before that particular harvest.  Personally, I am prone to give up when I don’t see it.  What if Abraham had given up along the way?  David?  Isaiah?  Hebrews 11:13 says, “These all died in faith, not having received what was promised.” 

I think back to my mom.  She waited in faith, knowing her prodigal would come home.  She could have parked in despair and camped out on a boulder-lie as one year turned into ten.  But she didn’t.  My mom kept putting one foot in front of another, making her way uphill, continuously sowing seeds, and living on the unseen promise.   

And now, God, do it again—- bring rains to our drought-stricken lives 

So those who planted their crops in despair will shout “Yes!” at the harvest, 

So those who went off with heavy hearts will come home laughing, with armloads of blessing.  

Psalm 126:5

Along the way, we sow.  We give.  We help.  We receive.  We surrender a blank page and let God create.  We forgive, love, and bear each other’s load, but we also take responsibility for maintaining our own.  We are free sisters, free to live and to love.